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Creamy Tomato Orecchiette with Chicken and Corn

Actually, I think every day needs to start with pasta, but that’s an issue I should address on my own. In a locked bathroom. With a bowl of pasta.

So this here lil’ ditty is yet another Aaron creation. AH KNOOOOW, AH KNOOOOW. Get off my lazy bum, right? Whatever, dudes. I let him gleefully take over dinner this weekend while I researched breast pumps on Target and Babies “R” Us for my new registries. Actually I was totally looking at other things, I just wanted the excuse to use the words breast pump on this blog.

My male readers are dropping.like.flies.

I always love when Aaron cooks because he has waaaay more patience than I do. I think it’s because he’s a piddler. He takes his time with everything EVER. He walks a lot slower than I do, tells stories in a slower pace, just meanders his way through life. Okay it drives me banana land bonkers. But with cooking it’s a good thing! Except when I’m starving and have two little parasites clawing their way through my abdomen, up my throat and onto the back of my tongue. Pregnancy can be so charming!

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, thyme, paprika, red pepper flakes and black pepper to the pan and bloom for a good 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, oregano and honey, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. Add the heavy cream and a pinch of salt and keep on low.

While the tomatoes cook, prepare the corn and chicken. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add the corn to the pan. Season with a pinch of salt and cook about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Remove the corn and garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Back in the pan, add the sliced chicken. Season with salt and pepper; sear on both sides until cooked through. Add the wine to deglaze any sugars that have started to brown in the pan.

Add the creamy tomato sauce to the pan and give everything a good toss.

In the meantime, cook the orecchiette in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and add to the sauce. Toss once more.

Serve with a mountain of fresh parmesan and basil leaves, which I forgot to photograph because I was still thinking about that breast pump I found online.

Would you rather me talk about the pee pee teepees we found? No? Okay.

Next will you write a post entitled, “How to get your husband to do the cooking while you are pregnant.”? That would really help me out! Until then, I will just start boiling the water for the orecchiette…

Why is it that boys are just naturally slower at things, no matter what it is? At least we’ve trained them to do it right, even if it is at a snail’s pace. But please do let him know he rocked the pasta.

Aaron’s pretty awesome with his pasta talent, this thing looks amazing! The man of my house is slow as snails at just about everything too, but it definitely does make for a delicious meal, so I have to say we lucked out to have patient perfectionist men meandering around the kitchen in their slow, perfect way. Hope you get yourself the best breast pump ever! errrr….something like that… 😉

Thanks for the pasta recipe! My younger daughter is so freakin’ picky and I can’t get her to eat any veggies except for corn, Caesar salad, and tomato sauce… the last one, I think, she’ll only eat because it’s not the end result is far from their tomato origin.

Just one word of advice from a former breastfeeding mama. I would recommend that you look at renting a breast pump instead of committing to purchasing one, unless you know that you are going to go back to work and need to have a milk stash in the fridge beforehand. Reason being is that if you plan on being home with your baby, it’s far easier to feed the baby directly from the breast than it is to pump and feed from a bottle, especially in terms of milk “letdown.” I, for one, would pump for 1/2 hour and would barely get enough to fill a bottle, despite massaging my breasts, looking at pictures of my baby, etc., but I didn’t have that problem with feeding straight from the tap, the letdown would occur within seconds of nursing. You can ask if your hospital rents pumps, or some local baby stores may also provide them as well. Just my two cents.

I do think it’s great that you’re thinking about breastfeeding — I highly encourage you to do it for at least a year — it’s one of the best things you can do for your baby, and it’s free and you already have the equipment.

Made this for dinner tonight — it was delicious! Subbed tri-colored pasta for the orrechiette; chicken thighs instead of breasts (seasoned first in a poultry spice mix from a local spice co.); and a small bag of frozen organic corn kernels instead of fresh corn. My kids loved it, including the picky one!

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About Bev

Welcome! Bev Weidner is a food blogger, an obsessed photo-taker of her twins, a wifester, a cheese lover, a musician, a runner, knows every word and lyric to The Sound of Music, and a continual changer of hair-er. And she just said all of that in third person.
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